National Pokemon Association
The National Pokemon Association or NPA for short is a sport-like competition where pokemon content creators battle each other in 6v6 Mixed Smogon battles. Overview The NPA's main niche is that it features coaches who primarily grew their channels through Twitch.tv as opposed to YouTube early on (although matches were still recorded for YouTube), and as a result would have more interactive and lively commentary during matches as well as more fan interaction between matches. The league's short-term goal is to establish itself as the tertiary draft battle league, behind only the UCL and GBA. The league is just finishing its first full season, initially running from August 22nd - November 22. League sources have already confirmed that season 2 is in the works, with the second draft to most likely occur in late February or early March. History The National Pokemon Association was originally founded by PokayTroll, who wanted to make a GBA-like battle league with some of his friends from twitch. He first reached out to SonicBrawler, TheBeastPokeBaller, Cybernightmare707, and JerryOak. JerryOak in turn invited Joedor_ and Bradyoactiv. Joedor_ then proceeded most of the rest of the original 16 coaches to have the basis for Season 1, causing PokayTroll to request that he be the assistant commissioner, figuring that he could keep the streamers he invited in check and accountable better since he knew them better. A few days before the draft for season 1 began, Bradyoactiv backed out of the league for personal reasons. BadHeavenDK was invited last minute to fill the 16th slot. Season 1 of the NPA utilized a Smogon Unlocked draft style, meaning that coaches could pick any Pokemon they wanted for their team outside of the Smogon Uber and AG tiers. While this led to many coaches getting Pokemon they liked, it led to an imbalance in team strength because some coaches simply didn't draft high tier initially. The draft was broadcast live on CrustyMustard's twitch channel with a randomized snake draft order, meaning every other round the order was randomized. Initial problems with the draft mostly revolved around Pokaytroll, Joedor_, and Nickachuuu both being absent from the early stage of the draft for various reasons, having to phone in their picks to trusted mods. After Week 1, Nickachuuu backed out of the league for personal reasons. PokayTroll invited Shadowgattler to fill the role as coach of the Miami Mews, who didn't mind having a week 1 loss on his record since the season was young. After Week 3, BadHeavenDK had to withdraw from the league due to personal reasons as well, causing PokayTroll to invite MissSnowBunny to fill the void. Because the Mightyenas had a 0-3 record in a competitive division, MissSnowBunny opted to reset her record and rebrand the team, in exchange for forfeiting playoff contention. While this was happening, an interesting trend began to appear in the standings. In almost every cross division encounter, coaches from the Kalos division were winning over the Kanto division teams. This led to the Los Angeles Landorus (JerryOak), San Diego Charizards (InsaneVampaneze), and Houston Raichus (TeslaMouse) all being tied for first in the Kalos division by week 4 with 4-0 records. The Seattle Seakings (Joedor_) and Dallas Staraptors (TheBeastPokeBaller) were close perry the platypusss was here behind with 3-1 records. This added to the close race when the Staraptors beat the Seakings in Week 7, the Landorus and Raichus each took a loss mid-season, and most of the east was closing in on a huge tie game. The Kanto division ended with 7 teams tied for 2nd with 4-6 records, a tie only mitigated by faint differential, giving the playoff slots to the Luxrays, Braviaries, and Houndooms. In the end, the Landorus beat the Charizards in week 9 to take control of 1st. The Raichus suffered another two losses to settle into 3rd, and the Seakings went 2-1 in their last three matches to hold onto the 4th playoff slot. The Playoff Quarterfinals featured huge rematches between the Landorus (1) and Seakings (4), a week 1 blowout that ended with a much more nail biting win for the Landorus (1-0 instead of 5-0), the Charizards (2) edging past the Raichus (3) (2-0 victory), and the Ursarings beating the Houndooms handedly for the 2nd time. The big win of the week was Person715 and the Braviaries getting revenge over TheXseption and the Luxrays, winning 3-0 after losing 2-0 in Week 2. This week, Person715 and the Braviaries battle #1 PokayTroll and the Ursarings. The winner takes on the winner of the Week 9 rematch between #1 JerryOak and the Landorus vs. #2 InsaneVampaneze and the Charizards. The Semifinal battles will go live on November 15, while the final will go live on November 22nd. Season 2, according to league sources, will feature "either a tier locked draft or a custom tier system." Coaches (Original Founding Members of the League) These were the original 16 coaches, although 3 dropped out mid season for various reasons, two being replaced mid season. Two coaches (CrustyMustard and SapphireRosaliaa) announced they would not return for season 2, though as of right now the remaining 11 will all make season 2 appearances, along with both season 1 replacement coaches, and 7 new coaches. Legend: * = Coach resigned midseason; ** = Coach not returning for Season 2 Coaches (Season 1 Replacements) These were the two coaches who offered to fill in for coaches who had left the league. The Baltimore Blazikens remained empty after the departure of xChrisKobain, with forfeit-wins awarded to their opponents. Legend: * = Rebranded and reset team's record, but forfeited playoff contention. Season record moving forward would aid in seeding for next season. Coaches (Season 2 Additions) The following coaches have been confirmed to be participating in Season 2 of the NPA. Expansion Plans As coaches make their final decisions about participation in Season 2 of the NPA, because plans always change, the league has decided to allow anywhere from 16-24 teams participate in Season 2, so long as there are an even number and the coaches all meet the requirements of entry. While a season 3 hasn't been confirmed, league sources have confirmed that the league is open to adding coaches from the EXPNU and PGL, two leagues that operated along the same timeline as NPA's season 1. The EXPNU has officially disbanded, while the PGL is currently struggling from turnover of its coaches, and as such a season 2 is unknown. Requirements to join the NPA The National Pokemon Association is always looking for well known members of the Pokemon Community to join in for future seasons. The requirements of entry are: 1. Ownership of a 3DS capture card at time of league start (If one is ordered 4 months in advance, that is good enough) 2. Having a YouTube channel & Twitch channel 3. Grown a community of at least 500 followers on Twitch or 100 subscribers on YouTube. This is to ensure that all the coaches are serious about entertaining others in a fun and semi-competitive format 4. Being able to commit to a 10+ week schedule of weekly battles and uploads 5. One current NPA, UCL, GBA, or EXPNU coach as a reference. (Coaches from the UCL, GBA, and EXPNU can skip this step) For more information, follow @Official_NPA on twitter.